Tie-handling device.



O. G. DESCH.

TIE HANDLING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 25. 1911.

1,291,437. Patented Jan. 14, 1919.

WITNESSES INVENTOR m/w! w 6. flwzw la; ATTORN y UNITED STA'WENT G.DESCH, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF '10 CHARLES E. DO'IY, iOF YONKEBS, NEW YORK.

. TIE-HANDLING DEVICE.

. To all whom it may concern:

' other logs, beams, posts and thelike. The

invention has been made more particularly with the idea of providing adevice for the rapid and convenient loadin and unloading or other movingabout 0 railroad ties, although, obviously, the invention is not limitedto such use.

In the handling of railroad ties it has been the custom heretofore tohandle the ties individually or in bundles by means of a sling, thusnecessitating individual handling in restacking or in placing inposition for use. The present invention aims primarily to provide adevice for handling a number of ties at a time and in such a way as toavoid entirely or largely individual rehandling. To this end I provide adevice adapted to be swung from a crane or derrick and having aplurality of pairs of gripping hooks each connected to a supportingmember by a chain or other suitable connecting means which permits thehook to swing in a vertical plane with a downward and inward movement.The hooks of each pair and their individual connecting means arearranged to extend outwar from opposite sides of the common supportinmember so that the series of pairs' of hoo s thus provided are adaptedto grip the ends of a series of ties lying side by side and lift theseries of ties when the sup orting member is raised. As the hooks ofeach pair are connected to the supporting member so as not to berestrained in their downward and inward movement by the position of anyother air of hooks, ties varying somewhat in ength may be lifted at thesame time,

shorter ties bein carried, when the device is raised, at a slig tlylower level than those which are longer. The invention includes variousfeatures of construction and arrangement of parts, all as hereinafterde- Speciflcation of Letters Patent. Patented J an. 14:1919.

Application filed May 25, 1917. Serial No. 170.816.

scribed and specifically pointed out in the claims.

The accompanyin drawings show a liftin device designe especially forlifting railroad ties and which embodies the various features of theinvention in the form which I now consider best. In said drawings Flgure1 shows the device in side elevat1on as it appears when supporting anumber of ties;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the device in use, the view showing, however,only three of the ties and only the corresponding three pairs ofgrlpping hooks and their connecting chains which appear in Fig. 1;

F g. 3 is an end view of the device in use;

Flgs. 4 and 5 are enlarged side and back news of one of the grippinghooks; and Figs. 6 and 7 are, respectively, similar news of a grippinghook provided with an indicatin finger or lever.

Referring to the drawings, the device shown comprises a supportingmember which is most desirably, and as shown, a rectangular frame 10,conveniently formed of angle bars, and which is adapted to be suspendedor carried in use by four chains 11 secured to the side bars 1 and 2 ofthe frame by means of shackles 12 and to a plate 13 which 1s providedwith an eye-bolt and link to which may be connected the lifting tackle.

The frame carries a plurality of pairs of gripping hooks 15 and 16 whichare con nected to the frame by means of swinging connecting members 17,the connecting members being secured to the side bars 1 and 2 of theframe at, most desirably, uniform distances apart, and so that for eachhook of the series 15 on one side of the frame there will be a hook 16corres ondingly connected to the other side of t e frame. The connectingmembers 17 may be of any suitable form which will ermit of the desiredfree downward and lnward swinging of the hooks to. grip and hold theends of the ties,

but connecting members formed, as shown,

of short chain lengths have been found to bemost enerally satisfactoryfrom standoints 0 both manufacture and use of the evice.

In the use of the lifting device, the supporting member 10 is placedover or on'the layer or series of ties to be lifted and the grippinghooks are placed in position with their prongs lying over the ends ofthe ties. Lifting the frame then ti htens the chains 17, causin thehooks to e drawn inward and to grip the ends of the ties, each t1e beinglifted after the hooks placed over its ends have been pulled intogripping engagement therewith. Because of the 1n dependent action ofeach pa r of gripping hooks, ties of somewhat difierent len hs may bethus gripped and lifted to et er. The exact time with relation to thelftmg of the supporting frame at which the pair of hooks for any one ofthe .ties grips and starts to lift that tie will depend upon the lengthof the tie, longer ties being gripped and lifted first by the upwardmovement of the frame, and the shorter ties being lifted and carried ata slightly lower level than the longer ones. When the frame has beenlifted and is carrying a series or course'of ties it may be shiftedabout to any desired position and then lowered, depositing theties inthe same relative positions as they were in before being lifted. Afterthe ties come to rest, further downward movement of the frame serves toloosen the chain 17 so that the hooks may then be readily disengaged.Layers or courses of ties may thus 7 be readily and quickly moved, asfrom storage stacks to cars, or vice versa, and relaid directly incourses; or a number of ties may thus be laid in pos1t1on on the roadbed,

requiring only the usual spacing after being deposited.

While the gripping hooks may be of any suitable form, double prongedhooks such as shown are most desirably used, since, when placed inposition over' the ends of the ties, such hooks are more apt to rema nin good gripping position, and will also grlp even though tilted to apos1t1on in which a single pronged hook would pull free from the tiewhen the supportflngl frame was raised. The use of two-pronged hooksalso has the further advantage that the ties when suspended in the airare held against turning movement on the hooks. It is sometlmesdesirable that the hooks on one or both sides of the supportin frame beprovided with means such as t e pivoted gripping finger or lever 18shown on the hooks 15 and in detail in Figs. 6 and 7 which grippingfinger or lever when thrown into operative position, as shown in Fig. 3,causes a slight gripping by the main prongs of the hook to insure itsremaining in place before the supporting frame has been lifted. Such agripping device is not ordinarily necessary, especially with thetwo-pronged hooks such as the drawings show, but it is sometimesconvenient, as when the lifting device is being used short handed, tohave the series of hooks on one side of the frame provided with suchgripping fingers or levers as shown in Figs. 2 and 3.

means? The supporting frame 10 -is desirably made adjustable for varyingits width for adapting the lifting device to longer or shorter tieswithout the necessity of changing the length of the chains 17. For thispurpose, in the construction shown the end bars 3 and l of the frame aremade each of two overlapping arts bolted together and provided with aditional bolt holes as indicated at 5, so that the length of the endbars may be changed to vary the width of the frame.

What is claimed is: t

1. A device for lifting a number of separate articles such as railroadties comprising a supporting device having substantially parallel sidemembers, connecting means extending from said sidemembers, and grippingdevices carried by the connecting means for separately gripping each ofa series of ties, said gripping devices being formed to grip the tiesunder the strain of the connecting means when the supporting device islifted, the gripping means for each tie being adjustable to the tieindependently of the other gripping means.

2. A device for lifting a number of separate articles such as railroadties, compris-. ing a supporting device having spaced substantiallyparallel side members, two series of ronnecting members carried by theside members of the supporting device and adapted to extend outwardtherefrom and to swing vertically, and a gripping device carried by eachconnecting member and formed to grip under strain of its connectingmember when the supporting device is lifted, the corresponding grippingdevices on opposite sides of the supporting device formlng a pairadapted to engage the ends of a tie, and the distance between said sidemembers of the supporting device being less than the length of the ties,whereby when the supporting device is lifted the gripping devices ofeach pair will be drawn inward and caused to grip the ends of a tie tobe lifted thereby.

- 3. A device for lifting a number of separate articles such as railroadties, comprising a supporting member, two series of connecting memberscarried by the supporting member and adapted to extend outward fromopposite sides thereof and to swing vertically, and a gripping hookcarried by each connecting member, the supporting member being of awidth less than the length of the ties and the corresponding hooks onopposite sides of the supporting member forming a pair adapted to engagethe ends of a tie, whereby when the supporting member is lifted thehooks of each pair will be drawn inward against the ends of a tie to belifted thereby and caused to grip the same and will adjust themselves tothe tie independently of other pairs of hooks.

each pair being adapted to extend outward from the side members of thesupporting frame with the hooks in position to engage the ends of a tie,whereby the hooks are drawn inward and caused to grip the ends of theties when the supportlng frame is lifted, and each pair of hooks andtheir connecting members being adjustable to a tie to be lifted therebyindependently of other pairs of hooks and connecting members whereby thedevice is adapted to simultaneously lift a number of separate ties ofdifferent lengths.

5. A lifting device for articles such as railroad ties, comprising asupporting frame, two series of independently movable flexibleconnectingmembers secured to opposite sides of thesupporting frame, and a grippinghook carried by each connecting member, the width of the supportingframe being less than the length of the ties and the corresponding hookson opposite sides of the supporting frame forming a pair adapted, whentheir connecting mem ers are extended outward from the frame, to engagethe ends of a tie, whereby when the frame is lifted the books will bedrawn inward and caused to ip the ends of the ties.

6. A lii t i railroad ties, comprising a supporting frame, two series ofindependently movable flexible connecting members secured to oppositesides of the supporting frame, and a two-pronged gripping hook carriedby each connecting member, the corresponding hooks on opposite sides ofthe supporting frame forming a pair adapted when their connectingmembers are extended outward to engage the ends of a tie.

ng device for articles such as 7. A lifting device for articles such asrailroad ties, comprising a supporting frame, two series of flexibleconnecting members secured to opposite sides of the supporting frame,and a gripping hook carried by each connecting member, the correspondinghooks on opposite sides of the supporting frame forming a pair adaptedwhen their connecting members are extended outward to engage the ends ofa tie, the gripping hooks on at least one side of the frame beingrovided with means for forcing-and hol ing the prongs of the hooks inengagement with the ties.

8. A lifting device for articles such as railroad ties, comprising asupporting frame, two series of independently movable flexibleconnecting members secured to opposite sides of the supporting frame,and a gripping hook carried by each connecting mem er, correspondinghooks on op site sides of the supporting frame forming a pair adaptedwhen their connecting members are extended outward to engage the ends ofa tie, the supporting frame being adjustable in width to adapt thelifting device to the length of the ties.

9. A lifting device for articles such as railroad ties, comprising asupporting frame, means for connecting said frame to a lifting tackle, aseries of independently movable chains attached to each of two oppositesides of the frame, and a gripping hook carried by each of said chains,the distance between the sides of the frame to which the chains areattached being such that when the gri ping hooks are 1n position toengage t e articles to be lifted the chains will be extended outward,whereby when the frame is lifted the hooks will be drawn inward andcaused to grip the articles.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of twosubscribing witnesses.

OTTO DESCH. Witnesses: 1 ETHEL JOHNES, A. L. KENT.

